What a boring speech. It was like the president was reading a list. He’s had better State of the Union presentations. The audience — especially the Republican side — got a lot of exercise standing up and applauding.
The big revelation of the night was that Dick Cheney looks like Curt Schilling. He could pass for Schilling’s father.
Then again this will be George W. Bush’s last State of the Union address, so I got that going for me.
I always make an effort to catch the address, either on tv or on radio. Most people I know don’t. It’s not like I’m a politics junkie, but I feel an obligation to hear what the president has to say. Even though the address is produced with a lot of theatrics (the applause lines get to me after a while), you get to hear the president spell out his policies and vision for the country. I haven’t been impressed with President Bush, but — what the heck — he’s the president and I’ll give him and his speech writers an hour or so of my time.
It’s also fun to play Name That Dignitary during the broadcast when the camera pans across the crowd and shows various senators, congressmen and congresswomen, Supreme Court justices, etc. I guess I am a politics junkie.
It does make me kind of nervous when just about every key national political figure is in one spot. Next to the inauguration this is probably the event that elicits the highest level of concern from the Secret Service and other agencies.
I don’t suppose President Bush will drop “passion bucket,” but you never know.
Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.
